Who's To Say You're WHATnow!
by Nokomis Stormborn
Summary: The aftermath of an IM conversation where two Scoobies unwittingly reveal their feelings toward each other. Sequel to H-FREAK's "Who's To Say I'm Not?"


**DISCLAIMERS:** Buffy, Willow, and the BtVS Universe belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, et al. They just so happen to be my favorite dollys.

**IMPORTANT A/N:**** Inspiration for this short hit me like a ton of vampire dust after reading H-FREAK's "**_**Who's To Say I'm Not?**_**" [story id: 5858614]. It's a fabulous, **_**funny**_** narrative that you should most definitely read and review. At the very least, I recommend that you read it so you know what I'm referring to at different moments in this story, as it's a sequel of sorts. And yes, this was created and published with H-FREAK's permission.**

**LESS IMPORTANT A/N:** This is also an exercise in style that sort of got left to the dregs of my flash drives after Real Life struck hard for a year, and I would very much appreciate feedback myself. Kinda trying to depict the character through the language used to portray their scenes. Let me know how I'm doing.

**RATING:** I suck with these things. There's bad language (hey, they swear some on the show, and more in the comic, so I would imagine that they are not strangers to foul language in stressful circumstances), and suggestiveness a'plenty.

**You're WHAT, Now?**

**Vixxen81 09:29:17**: willow?

_**Redhotkitten 09:29:42**_**:** 0.0

_How the HELLdoessheknowmyrealname?_

Fighting the urge to panic as one and one added up to two, the red haired beauty jerked so hard that her chair lost its grip on reality and flipped out from underneath her. She landed with a clatter, but took little notice of the noise as she scrambled up to type the only word that was racing through her cranium into the message field.

_**Redhotkitten 09:30:16**:_ bUFFY?

**Vixxen81 is offline.**

It was all the affirmation Willow needed. "Oh... _Shit!_" she whispered to her empty room. Jumping to her feet, she paced, back and forth, back and forth, the panic now hurrying to settle in to the tune of "ohshitohshitohshit" in her head. She stared hard at her display for one last moment, as though willing it to answer her unspoken questions before snapping the laptop closed and drawing a deep breath to steady herself.

The organic microprocessor in her skull began to quickly sort, label, and file the last two hours away, attempting to distill a solution from all the compounded variables of evening. She had to be rational. She needed to assess just what exactly had happened, what it meant for their friendship, whether there would be more damage to repair, and whether that was even possible. Pinching the bridge of her nose while her arms crossed over her chest, she hugged herself. An exasperated sigh escaped her lips as she tried to shake the feeling that the dynamic of their friendship had been irreversibly altered.

.X.x.X.x.X.

The combination of the shock-y face from her 'date' and a thump on the ceiling from the upstairs bedroom told the blonde that her guess had been correct. She clicked quickly, almost frantically, at the button on her screen that offered to let her log out. When she heard the floor boards begin a chorus of rhythmic squeaking, she knew that Willow was pacing in her room. She, for her part, felt glued in place. After everything that had happened in the last year, this couldn't be good. Could it?

Heart hammering away at the back of her ribs, she glared at the ceiling like she was trying to see through it. Buffy didn't know what it meant exactly, but she knew that something was different. She could feel it in the electrified air that seemed to cycle between them. Recalling that she'd told the girl she'd assumed to be a stranger that she was into smart, nerdy girls, a barely repressed giggle threatened her total bewilderment.

She'd unknowingly said this to the girl that had _sparked_ her interest in smart, nerdy girls.

_Ahh, and the thing about the red hair! _Unable to help it, she snickered quietly to herself. It really _was_ pretty funny, and if she didn't laugh about it she'd probably end up crying. This was totally one of those moments.

_Fuck, Summers, _she scolded inwardly, _you really got yourself in a pickle this time. A whole barrel of pickles. Now you're pickling._ From the things she'd said, she'd be disappointed in Willow's powers of logic if the hacker-turned-wiccan failed to realize that the slayer was attracted to her. But then, her friend had always been a bit lacking in the self-esteem department. So maybe that was a toss-up. _Nah. _

.X.x.X.x.X.

_Okay. Think, Willow, think! Gotta figure this out._ She continued to pace, the velocity eventually dipping down below hypersonic again, her mind stuck in a thought circuit she couldn't break yet. She'd found a woman online that seemed so perfect and drew her so intensely that she was actually giddy and not just a little horny. Then the woman turned out to be her best friend whom she'd been secretly in love with for seven years or so. The one that was in the same house she was in, somewhere downstairs, creating a current of intensity that she knew would have to be dealt with. _Well, eventually, _she thought as she heard the door open and close, snapping her back to the present and the enormity of the situation.

_The best friend I've never made a move on because I thought she was straight, and as the dutiful best friend, I had to respect that!_ Comprehension dawned with a funny mixture of disbelief and elation. _Buffy _**likes girls**?

Catching sight of her laptop, she hurried over to it and flipped it open again, tapping her fingers impatiently as it woke from the slumber it'd only just entered. She quickly punched in her password, and after another brief loading screen, it brightened to life. The window was still open, and she scrolled to the top and began to carefully reread her unknowing chat with her best gal pal.

.X.x.X.x.X.

As the tempo of the squeaking of the boards waned and the tension in the house grew, Buffy did what always seemed logical when she was feeling like a terrified rabbit.

She ran.

Grabbing her favorite leather jacket, she tried to slip out as quietly as possible. _Time for patrol anyway,_ she reasoned. It wasn't like she was trying to avoid the situation. They lived in the same house, for crying out loud. There would be no avoiding this. In fact, she had no doubt that there would be a Talk, the kind with a capital T. She just needed to do something, be action girl for a while, just until her thoughts stopped twisting like a windsock in a hurricane. She wasn't ready to face Willow. Not yet.

Slipping into auto-pilot, she began sifting through the debris field left behind by her mental twister. Unfortunately, the mess was so massive that her emotionally stunted self couldn't figure out where to begin. _Analyze the sitch, Summers. You can do this._ _So... Um... What would Willow do?_ she thought, before rolling her eyes at herself as she realized what a silly question that was, given the circumstances. _What would Giles do? Well, first he'd rub his glasses in a panic and then he would disappear into his giant pile of books... What would Giles do in those books? Look for facts. Okay, Buffy. Facts. What do I know for __**sure**__? _ The vampire that tried to distract her from her ponderings was dispatched with minimal effort and mechanical precision. Shooing the dust bunnies from her jacket, she refocused.

_Fact: I like Willow. A lot. Love would definitely not be a stretch. Fact: We must both be lonely, because hello, online dating thing. Fact: We haven't really been so close these past couple years, and, well... Okay, we tried to kill each other, and then there was the not talking, and badness all around. But… Wait! Also a fact: when we didn't know we were best friends, we were vibin' on each other so hard I got a lil—well._ The slayer blushed and bit her lip, recalling the "promise" her red hot kitten had mentioned. Spinning, she hurled Mr. Pointy at the vamp that was failing at all things lurk-y, and smirked just a little at the look of surprise on his face as he burst into dust. Jogging over, she retrieved it and tried to catch up with the train of thought she'd jumped off of. _Oh, and, 'nother fact: she DID say that a good smile was a must, and that I was too perfect!_

.X.x.X.x.X.

Willow felt her face growing progressively warmer as she read over the messages. She'd soon realized that it was ridiculously easy to imagine Buffy as Vixxen81, saying some of the things she'd said. Though, if she was being honest with herself, she'd already been imagining the petite blonde's coy grin as her example of a perfect smile, and the picture slowly filled in as the conversation continued. Her mind automatically connected several dots as she read. _Now wait just a darned second here. Buffy has a 'total thing' for redheads? A-and, smart ones?_ She scrolled up and down rapidly, collating more data. _She figured out she likes girls—_she just couldn't bring herself to call her friend "gay" yet—_over time, which makes sense, considering some of the guys she's been with. _The very thought made her gut clench, but this time it was tighter than what she was so used to ignoring. _But she mentioned she had a lot of time to think over the summer, which was while I was gone..._

She continued rereading and parsing the words, her mind and her hopes painting a picture that she had never previously even allowed herself to dream was possible. Confused and just a little on the 'eek!' side of shock, the calculation was correct every time she ran it. Her eyes widened and she bit her lip as she leaned back in her chair. _Buffy wants me. Whether she knows it or not, she totally. Wants. Me! OH MY GOD! Buffywantsme!_

"Yesssssssss!" escaped her lips in a hiss as she sprung from her seat, arms stretched above her head like a V for victory, and slipped into her own version of the snoopy dance, the one reserved for the most private of wins.

"What. The hell. Are you _doing_?"

.X.x.X.x.X.

_Yep. This is gonna go really, really great, or really, really crappy._ The slayer found herself sitting in Restfield Cemetery once again, back propped up against her favorite tree. Pursing her lips, she continued mulling just what the chances were that she and Willow would end up instant messaging each other. _One in a bazillion chance, or some other ridiculous number._ She was, honestly, still completely blown away by this, this… _Y'know, my brain can't even string together enough words to explain it._

Releasing the breath she didn't know she was holding in a tense sigh, she checked her watch. _Shit, it's almost one and other than the first two vamps, there's been nothing going on._ She'd canvassed the town while she worked over the newest obstacle in her sometimes bumpy and always strange life. _Hmm. That usually doesn't lead to awesomeness._ She tucked the information away for later, when it might be more important than her personal life.

No matter how many times she thought it over, there was only one thing that she knew without a doubt. However things went during their next encounter, their friendship would never be the same. She knew she loved Willow, she always had. There was nothing she wouldn't do for that girl. And somewhere deep down inside, she felt, and truly believed, that there was nothing Willow wouldn't do for her. She realized, in that moment, that if that wasn't love… What was?

A slow smile crept across her face, softening the corners of her eyes. Loving the redhead suddenly seemed like the most important thing in the world. Standing up, she squared her shoulders and took a deep breath, her chest rising with a sense of purpose. She knew what she had to do.

.X.x.X.x.X.

The Wiccan screamed and spun around, searching for the interloper to her victorious revelry. Somehow in the process, she managed to tangle herself in her skirt and lose her footing. For the second time that night, she fell over to scurry back to her feet, a blush dying her features to match her hair as a titter broke the silence.

"Dawn! Language!" she snapped out as she shot what she hoped was a glare at the cocky teenager leaning against her bedroom door frame. She did what any embarrassed, slightly insecure, older-sisterly-figured woman would. She deflected.

"Please. Like I don't hear worse from Buffy on, like, an almost daily basis." Blue eyes rolled dramatically, and her mouth opened, but...

"A-and, you shouldn't sneak up on people like that, Dawnie! I could've been all ritual-y and accidentally magicked you, a-and thrown you through the wall, o-or made you go all invisible, or turned you into a frog—ew, frogs—"

"Yeah, and you could've ritually seize-danced me all the way to Epilepsia," the brunette sniggered, earning her a dirty look from her surrogate older sister. "You're just lucky one of the potentials didn't catch you in here doing that." Sharp baby blues darted around the room, looking for an obvious explanation before coming to rest on the open, full-screen messenger window, full of back-and-forth messages.

Willow scrunched up her face and poked out her tongue, trying to edge over to block the teen's view of the AIM chat, but it was too late. Dawn's keen vision had already locked onto the name Vixxen81, and she knew from her amatuer hacking attempts on her sister's account that it was Buffy's handle. In an instant she squealed and dodged around the redhead to the desk and, owing to her generally unnoticed keen mind, she was able to read and recall several lines of conversation before she was wrenched away, tackled to the bed, and tickled mercilessly.

"You little spy!" Willow accused in mock indignation as she inflicted the girl's punishment. She couldn't help but smile past her exertion face-tickle-torturing Dawn would never, EVER get old. It allowed her to express her frustration without actually hurting the little brat.

"He-he-ha-haa-oh!-h-haa-he*snort*oh-ha! Ohstop-h-ha-ha!" shrieked the teen, finally unable to withstand any more tickling because her sides hurt too much. "Uncle! Uncle!" she cried as the witch's fingers slowed, then stopped and pulled away. Wiping the tears from her eyes with her hands and then her nose with her sleeve, she contined to grin triumphantly.

"So what did you surmise from your little glimpse into my private internetscapades?" the redhead queried, sure to keep her features friendly and amused and not give away any of her newest worry: what Dawn would think if she knew. She didn't even know what _Buffy_ thought now that she knew. _Hell, I only _just _found out how I feel now that I know!_

"That _finally_, after all these years, you and Buffy _finally_ figured out that you're in love with each other."

.X.x.X.x.X.

**EVEN **_**LESS**_** IMPORTANT A/N: ****Th-th-th-tha-that's it, folks. Second chapter underway... It might be smutty if you ask nicely. ;) There's also a strong possibility that more might be added to this chapter-I'm terrible about recrafting previous entries as my stories progress. It might not be a bad idea to re-read them from time to time.**


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